HS VASE Background

Texas Visual Art Scholastic Event will begin its 24th season in January of 2018. The first VASE event was held in 1994 with just over 400 student entries. In 2014 the Texas VASE hosted 25 Regional High School events with 26,838 registered entries. 1,626 entries advanced to the State Event held in Bryan, Texas at Bryan High School, April 10-11. At the state event 818 artworks were awarded an All-State Superior Rating and 152 artworks were granted Distinguished Status with the coveted Gold Seal Award. In addition, 35 students were awarded scholarships based on works they created on-site at the State Event Scholarship Workshop. Scholarships ranged from $100 to $1,000.

The Texas Art Education Association (TAEA) has sponsored the Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE) since 1994. VASE is the only art event of its kind in the nation. Students are provided the opportunity to bring artworks created in their art classes to their regional event where they are interviewed by a certified juror who evaluates their work based on a standard based rubric and their understanding of the art processes involved in the development of their artwork. Only academically eligible high school students in grades 9-12 from throughout Texas can participate in VASE.

To participate in VASE teachers must be a member in good standing with TAEA and submit all required participation information online at https://www.taea.org/vase. Teachers or sponsors must register and set up a teacher page that will provide vital information including important dates, invoices, documents, and feedback opportunities. An entry fee of $15 for each Regional entry and $20 for each State entry is also required. Each student can submit a maximum of two art entries. The artworks are juried by a team of certified adjudicators comprised of art educators, university instructors, and area artists.

Regional events are scheduled based on the 20 TEA Education Service Center regions and zones in each region. Each region has a Regional Director responsible for the planning and running of the event. Regional Directors can be located on the VASE website through the Regional Locator. The locator will list the director's name, contact information, and the date and location for each regional event. The Regional Director will schedule student participation by school district and teacher and provide the teacher sponsor with a schedule of when each student will be juried and where.

Jurors will look for originality of concept, technical expertise, understanding of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for visual art, and the interpretation of the student's stated intent. Jurors at the regional level will evaluate student artwork using the following standard:

Rating 4 Superior

Rating 3 Excellent

Rating 2 Average

Rating 1 Below Average

At the state level the following rating system is used:

Rating 5 Distinguished (given only to Gold Seal artwork)

Rating 4 Exemplary (in meeting the criteria)

Rating 3 Superior (in meeting the criteria)

Rating 2 Excellent (in meeting the criteria)

Rating 1 Accomplished (in meeting the criteria)

Students compete on four different experience levels depending on the credits in art that the student has received at the time of the regional event:

0 to 1 credit in art are juried on the Division I level

1.5 to 2 credits in art are juried on the Division II level

2.5 to 3 credits in art are juried on the Division III level

3.5+ credits in art and/or AP are juried on the Division IV level

Medals are awarded to those students receiving a Superior (Rating 4) rating in each division at the regional event and medallions are awarded to those students receiving an Exemplary (Rating 4) rating at the state event. The "Gold Seal" medallion is the top state award presented to Distinguished works of art chosen by the state jury panel.